This invention relates generally to automobiles and more particularly to automobiles that have an air intake grille and an energy absorbing bumper at the front end which deflects or moves substantially with respect to the automobile body upon impact.
Automobile bodies conventionally include an air intake grille at the front end for taking air into the engine compartment for absorbing heat from a radiator forming part of the engine cooling system. For many years air intake grilles were rigid structures made of a hard chrome plated metal. However impact resistent flexible grilles having a base structure that is a flexible elastomer such as thermoplastic urethane and the appearance of an electrodeposited chrome part are now known. See for instance U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,407,871; 4,431,711 and 4,713,143 that are assigned to the assignee of this invention.
Automobile bodies also now typically include an energy absorbing bumper at the front end to avoid damage in minor front end collisions. These bumpers deflect or move substantially rearwardly with respect to the front end of the automobile in response to front end impacts up to a predetermined magnitude and then recover when the front end impact load is removed. For example, these energy absorbing bumpers may move as much as 3 or 4 inches with respect to the facia panel at the front end of the automobile.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,250 recognizes advantages of a two-part bumper grille arrangement in which the grille is attached to the bumper particularly if the attachment is achieved easily. However, the patent does not specify if the bumper is an energy absorbing type nor does the patent indicate how the travel of an energy absorbing bumper might be accommodated.
On the other hand, in known energy absorbing bumper arrangements, the grille is not attached to the bumper so that the grille does not sustain any damage when the bumper collapses in response to a front end impact.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,753,468; 4,834,436; and 4,944,540; all disclose grille mounting arrangements where the grille is mounted so that it moves when the bumper retracts and none of the moveable grills are fastened to the energy absorbing bumper. But U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,540 does show an arrangement in FIGS. 5 and 6 where the grille has a lower pocket for receiving an upper surface of the bumper to direct contact of the collapsing bumper with the grille.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,203 shows another grille mounting arrangement where the grille is fastened to an engine hood by a flexible U-shaped frame to permit a yielding movement in case of collisions. The lower end of the frame projects into a recess of the bumper, but the frame is not fastened to the bumper in any manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,597 discloses an impact resistent flexible grille that is rigidly attached to the forward hood structure of an automobile along an upper support member and vertical supports. The flexible grille deflects in response to a front end collision but the flexible grille is not fastened to the bumper in any manner.